This proposal requests partial support for an international meeting on Endothelial Cell Phenotypes in Health and Disease, to be held at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine, USA August 8-13, 2010. The broad and long term goal of the conference is to bring together scientists from diverse fields who share a common interest in understanding the role of endothelial cell phenotypes in health and disease in order to advance the field and to create therapeutic hypotheses that can be tested with emerging modalities. The specific aims will be to convene 35-40 speakers that represent critical yet diverse areas of endothelial cell research with a total of 135-150 participants for a five day conference in a relatively isolated setting. The 2010 program will have opening and closing keynote addresses, one special lecture on the "History of the Endothelium", and eight sessions that broadly address current issues in vascular endothelial cell biology, including 1. inducible pluripotent stem cells and endothelial progenitor cells, 2. the role of the endothelial cell in the placenta, pregnancy and eclampsia, 3. the eye and the vascular endothelium, 4. understanding the endothelium in tissue engineering, 5. diabetes and the metabolic syndrome centered around the endothelium, 6. infectious diseases and the endothelial cell, 7. cross-talk pathways from/to endothelial cells, and 8. endothelial cell specific signaling pathways. This Gordon Research Conference on Endothelial Cell Phenotypes in Health and Disease is an entirely unique and valuable venue that provides a convergent interaction for investigators from such diverse fields as vascular and stem cell biology, hematology, innate immunity, infectious diseases, oncology, endocrinology, obstetrics, nephrology, neurology, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, developmental biology, and tissue engineering. The significance of this application is that this conference brings together experts from different fields with a common interest in understanding the mechanisms of site specific endothelial cell phenotypes as an important biological phenomenon, and also as a novel template for understanding the pathophysiological basis of vascular disease. The health relatedness of the application, which encompasses many medical disciplines, is that discussions of current research will define the questions that require experimental resolution in the wide range of diseases affected by vascular endothelial cell function, and lead to rational design of more effective diagnostics and therapeutics. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This conference brings together experts from different fields with a common interest in understanding the mechanisms of site specific endothelial cell phenotypes as an important biological phenomenon, and also as a novel template for understanding the pathophysiological basis of vascular disease. The health relatedness of the application, which encompasses many medical disciplines, is that discussions of current research will define the questions that require experimental resolution in the wide range of diseases affected by vascular endothelial cell function, and lead to rational design of more effective diagnostics and therapeutics.